Saying Goodbye
by DesDiamondS
Summary: Sometimes the best thing we can do for love is to let it go. Draco/OCC


She is running down the staircase when I find her, her long brown hair flowing wildly behind her. I can hear the soft click of her heels and her nervous breathing. Reaching the bottom step, she stops and turns to stare into the darkness surrounding her. She crouches and rounds the staircase to hide behind its' tall pillars. I chuckle to myself at her cautiousness as she tiptoes towards the stone stairs that lead to the dungeons. Torches placed along the walls, their flames licking and dancing seductively against the darkness, dimly light the staircase.

As she reaches the stone floor of the main dungeons, she turns right; I descend after her. She heads for our usual meeting place near the entrance to the kitchens but I stop at the sound of another set of footsteps. It seems that she too has heard them and becomes even more nervous, pulling at the long sleeves of her shirt as though to hide her hands. Suddenly, there is the loud noise of a door slamming; she jumps at the sound, panicking with what it could mean. My own heart begins to race when I consider what could happen if she is caught down here. Before I can reveal myself to her, she breaks into a dead run, changing course and heading into a pitch-black corridor. Worried for her safety, I begin to run after her.

"Lumos," I mutter as I pull my wand from my robes. Its tip illuminates with white light and I can finally make out what I'm walking into. It's apparent that this corridor hasn't been used in a long time by the considerable amount of dirt and dust in the air and on the ground.

"Where could she have gotten to?" I wonder while searching for her, each minute reaching deeper into the darkness. It is then that I notice that I have come to a small round room, surrounded by statues of different creatures standing like guards against the walls. I hear the sound of ragged breathing and I deduce that it was coming from somewhere to my left. As I turn, I see a statue of a beautiful mermaid; between it and the wall I see a head of wild brown hair. I approach slowly; her back is to me and her breathing is becoming faster, shallower. When I am finally a few inches from her, I reach out and touch her shoulder. She gasps with surprise and turns to face me, her round, brown eyes wild with terror.

"Draco!" she sighs with relief and closes her eyes, bringing a shaking hand up to her heaving chest, "You scared me out of my wits".

"I'm sorry," I offer simply, stroking her cheek with my hand. She blushes nervously, looking uncomfortable.

"Why did you slam the door like that? Do you want us to get caught?"

"I didn't slam that door." I answer.

"Then who do you think did?" as she looks behind me with suspicion.

"Does it matter?" I whisper, stepping closer to her. I can feel her chest pressed against mine, her lips inches away from my own. Her eyes enchant me but I note the hint of sadness that lie behind them.

"Yes," she answers softly, "It does." She pushes me away so that our bodies separate. Reality sets in once again. Memories of the past year come flooding back, her last letter surfaces to the forefront of my mind.

" 'It's time that we say goodbye.' " I quote stoically as a tear rolls down her cheek.

"I- I had to - we can't continue to do this, Draco." she says miserably.

"Do what?" I demand.

"What we've been doing for the past year, these secret rendezvous in the middle of the night, the lying-"

"The sex?" I interrupt.  


"We are taking too many risks," she says, as if trying to justify her reasons, pushing me away again. My wand falls to the floor at our feet as I take hold of her shoulders, pulling her to me.

"These 'risks' are all I have left. You of all people should know that."

"We're playing a game we can't win, Draco. Sooner or later, things will catch up with us and it will be too late, the damage will be… irreparable."

"I'm not playing any games; I stopped playing games a long time ago. Do you think this past year has been a game to me?" I hiss, "My mother and father being murdered because of me...was that a game?"

"Draco, be fair to yourself," she pleads, laying her head on my shoulder, holding me. "You aren't responsible for the death of your parents; the Death Eaters have been trying to manipulate you."

"I'm a Death Eater."

She looks at me and points a slender and severe finger at me. "You are not a Death Eater."

"I'm marked as one of them," I growl.

"I don't care what bloody symbols are burned into your flesh. Time and time again you have proven yourself to be loyal to the Order and its cause-"

"They'll always look at me and see what I was, what my father was. Don't you understand? I have nothing left to lose, nothing left to live for…but you." I run my hands through her hair and close my eyes, breathing in her soft scent.

"You can't live for other people anymore, Draco." She pulls away from our embrace and smiles sadly, kissing me lightly on the cheek, "There is so much out there waiting for you, and you don't even know it".

"Are you afraid of the upcoming battles?" I ask suddenly, coldly.

At first, she seems confused by this question; she scrunches up her eyebrows but then shakes her head sadly. "My decision has nothing to do with the war."

"I don't believe that. If it hadn't been for this god forsaken war, things would have been easier for us," I declare.

"I'll have to disagree with you on that", she laughs darkly. "Had it not been for this war, you would have continued being an arrogant Malfoy heir, and in your eyes, I still would have been a dirty little Mudblood."

I grimace at her words but know that they are true. Had it not been for the dark times surrounding us, I never would have opened my eyes to see the beautiful woman in front of me.

"Then why end it?" I ask desperately. She raises her eyes to look at me but decides against it and instead opting to analyze the stone figure next to us.

"Because this isn't real," she whispers miserably, clutching a statue for support. "We let ourselves get caught up in the moment, the circumstances..."

"How can you tell me that this isn't real, that what I feel isn't valid?" I ask hoarsely, my heart in my throat.

She stops and breaths deeply, shaking her head and biting her lip all while the tears flow down her cheeks. She finally looks me in the eye and with great pain explains,

"I love him, Draco."

The silence that follows her words is suffocating. Stunned at first I could only laugh at myself, seeing the torment in her eyes. I feel a fire rise within me that renews my angry spirit.

"So this is how it ends? Standing in the dark, hiding behind a mermaid, while you profess your love for some git who doesn't see you, doesn't know you the way that I do?"

"Draco-"

"I would have died for you!" I roar, throwing all caution to the wind. I drop to my knees and hold my hands up as if in prayer before my crying goddess. She takes my head and holds it against her. Wrapping her arms around me protectively, she kisses my hair, sobbing quietly.

"I would have given up everything had you asked me to." I whisper to her repeatedly, hoping that the floor below me would open and swallow me, leaving me only with the memory of being held by my beloved. We stay in this embrace until neither of us has tears left to cry. My heart aches as she finally releases me and extends her hand to help me up from the floor. I memorize the feeling of her hand in mine, knowing it would be the last time I would ever be able to touch her.

"I leave for the Order headquarters tomorrow night," she says finally, staring down the corridor from which we came some time earlier. She pulls out her wand, igniting it, bathing us in white light.

"Then I still have a few hours left before we really have to say goodbye." I brush a stray strand of hair from her face. I smile weakly, but the smile doesn't reach my eyes, and she notices this.

"I'm sorry," she says sorrowfully.

"Don't be." I shake my head, "You have given me more than I can ever thank you for." I kiss her tenderly on her forehead, my heart breaking as I begin my walk back through the dark hallway. After only a few feet, I realize that I don't hear the clicking of her footsteps behind me. I look back, but it's too late.

Hermione is already gone.


End file.
